They may not have snagged the $1 million purse but, as brothers Jet and Cord McCoy, a.k.a. "the cowboys," said at the end of Sunday night's 'Amazing Race 16' finale, "there's more to life than money."

And, just because they didn't finish first (that honor went to the other brothers, Jordan and Dan Pious), that doesn't mean the McCoys aren't winners. The professional cowboy and bull rider ran the race with spirit, integrity and joy, and racked up some pretty awesome prizes -- and a fervent fan base -- while they were at it.

Did seeing the world change the self-professed "Oakies"? Is it true that Cord had never seen an episode of the race before he embarked on it? And, what on earth will they do with the sailboats they won?

TV Squad: Was keeping your character and integrity in tact more important to you guys than winning the money?Cord: I think so. I definitely think so. People are going to remember your character forever. You're representing your name, your family, your friends, your state, your country. I'm pretty sure I could spend $1 million tomorrow but your character has to last forever.

TV Squad: You didn't win the $1 million but you guys did snag three awesome trips along the way: one to Chile; one to Alaska; and one to Hawaii. Any chance one of those will morph into Cord's honeymoon?Jet: I'm pretty sure that I'll give him half of the Maui trip and Ashley and I will take the Alaska trip. She's a big hunter and likes to fish and that's supposed to be a wildlife viewing trip. It'll be a second honeymoon. We went to South Padre Island down in Texas for the first one.

TV Squad: Cord, you've said that you don't have a TV. Does that mean that you didn't know what you were in for when you embarked on the race?Cord: Agreed. I still don't have one. Jet told me about the race and I got excited about it and knew about it. But, I'd only seen it on DVDs. I guess I didn't know how huge it was. I figured it out real quick though. When we took off running in California there were these crazy people following us with cameras and I suddenly knew.

TV Squad: Jet, you're an avid reader who cites reading as his hobby of choice. What's your all-time favorite book?Jet: It would have to be 'The Log of a Cowboy.' It is about a boy in the 1800s that came back from the war and was looking for a job decides to go to Texas and learn to be a cowboy and ends up doing a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. And it's really neat, because it was a true story adapted from the real guy's journal, and with all of the stories of the cattle drive, it's almost like you're there driving cattle with those guys. I just love to read, although most of the stuff that I read its going to be how-to or reference type books. I don't spend hardly any time on novels, though. I'm all about the knowledge.

TV Squad: What are you guys going to do with the sailboats you won in Chile?Jet: [Laughs] I'm thinking we're probably going to sell the sailboats. I thought about setting them in the back yard and we could have parties on them. But, nah, I don't think the sailboats won't make a big splash in Oklahoma.

TV Squad: At home, does a day ever go by where you don't wear your hat? You seemed positively uncomfortable without them during certain parts of the race.Jet: No. Unless I don't get up. The hat hangs by the door. It's the last thing I put on before I leave the house.

TV Squad: At one point during the race, Cord, you mentioned something about a head injury. Can you tell us what happened?Cord: Back in 2004, I came off the back of a horse and I crushed my skull into my brain and they pretty much had to cut my head open and they had to pull my skull off my brain. They didn't know if I would be able to walk and talk again or if I'd be mentally challenged. So finishing the race for me was more special than it would be for the "average bear."

TV Squad: Wow. Clearly. If you had to pick a favorite moment from the race what would it be?Jet: I appreciate you asking that question! Every other interviewer has asked, "What was your favorite place?". Which is an entirely different question. My favorite moment was when Cord came running off the soccer field over there in Shanghai right after he had finished that puzzle. He doesn't care about puzzles and playing chess. He's way more quantitative. It's just his personality, so we'd decided going into the race that I'd do any puzzles. But then, we didn't have a choice and he went out there and attacked that thing with so much determination. It was just the coolest thing! I don't think anyone will ever realize how impressed I was with Cord at that moment. Cord: Aw. Well, for me, one of the funniest things was that there was a "roping challenge" And we were like, "Are you kidding? That's the challenge?" Jet has been roping since he was 3. Then he missed the first one. That was a huge laugh in our family.

Jet and Cord McCoy may have just been pipped to the post on last night's Amazing Race finale, but the cowboy brothers from Oklahoma had displayed their competitive streak throughout the competition. However, they ultimately lost out on the $1 million prize after they were pushed into second place by Dan and Jordan during the final leg in San Francisco. Nevertheless, the pair remained positive about traveling the world and finishing the race with their "character and integrity intact". We gave them a call to find out how they were feeling.

Congratulations on second! Are you happy with that result?Jet: "It's not that we're happy with it, but me and Cord both feel like we ran a great race and we did the best we could do and that's the way it turned out. Sometimes that's just the way it goes. You can do your best and still get second. It's The Amazing Race. We had a great time."Cord: "A lot of things to be thankful for."

You emerged as the fan favorites this season. How has the reaction been to you?Jet: "It's been kind of the way you'd expect. A lot of people have come up to us, but of course, this being the first day after we haven't been able to talk to a lot of people. But everybody has been real supportive saying, 'Good luck on the race, we've been watching you'. We've been getting a lot of those kind of comments and that's been a lot of fun."Cord: "I'm a pro bull rider and I know a lot of people tell me that they get a lot more scared watching The Amazing Race than watching me ride a bull!"

You guys never seemed to argue once on the race...Cord: "I don't think arguing would have made us go any faster so we both knew it was kind of a waste of time."Jet: "That's the thing about the race. It wasn't going to make us go any faster. There were definitely times along the way when you were so tired and you get so frustrated with things that you are tempted to do it, but on the other hand, like Cord said, it wouldn't make us go any faster. It would only cause more problems for us, and so we chose not to."

Everybody loved the fact you raced the whole time with your belt buckles and hats on... Jet: "We're cowboys!"Cord: "That's just what we wear!"Jet: "Early on we had people ask us - when they knew we were doing the race - if we would be wearing our hats and buckles. Me and Cord were like, 'What else would we wear!?' That's what we wear every day. That's just us. There was never an option to wear anything else."Cord: "We weren't going to change for anybody. Jet and I work daily on a ranch doing all sorts of challenges dressed that way and we didn't think there would be anything thrown in front of us that we wouldn't want to do in our work clothes."

Did last night's queue-jumping incident by Dan and Jordan really affect the race in your opinion?Jet: "I don't think... it may have affected it some but either way that was the way it turned out." Cord: "We can't really go back."

Have you spoken to them about it since?Jet: "We saw them this morning on The Early Show when they were presented with their million dollar check."Cord: "It was an extra large check!"Jet: "Huge!"

How did it feel to watch that?Cord: "There's not much you can say but congratulations. For a lot of people in the world you don't have to look very far to be thankful for a lot of things. Jet and I not only have each other, but we got to go around the globe and see the world and go to a lot of places that tourists can't even go to no matter if they have a million dollars or not. We have so much to be thankful for and I just feel blessed to have the opportunity to do The Amazing Race and finish it."

What are your thoughts on the U-Turning of Brandy and Carol and the suggestion you might have been better targets?Jet: "It wasn't us!"Cord: "It wasn't us!"Jet: "We weren't really involved in the drama there. Me and Cord were super nervous it would be us getting U-Turned and we didn't know at the time all the stuff that had gone on, but I know when we got to that U-Turn board and saw it wasn't us we were really excited."

Do you think it was a good decision to U-Turn them?Jet: "It would be hard for me to say. We're just glad it wasn't us!"

What's next for you?Jet: "We were doing the things we loved to do before we left on the race so it will be really cool to get back to doing the same thing at home, back to our horses and cattle. Cord has bull riding that he's producing coming up and will be arranging that for the next couple of weeks, but all in all it's back to business as usual."Cord: "Jet and I are putting together a fundraiser to raise money for our community, teaming up with the professional bull riders to raise some money for the American Cancer Society. It starts May 27 with a banquet which feeds into the professional bull riding May 28 and 29 in Oklahoma."

What was the best part of the race for you?Cord: "Oh just traveling and laughing and hanging out with my brother. It's hard to point out one thing that stands out. The shows were one hour a week and I think me and Jet had more than one hour of fun on each leg. It was a good time and I wouldn't take a million bucks for the experience."Jet: "The thing that makes that question so hard is that the entire race is an experience in itself so it's really difficult to go back and pick one thing and say, 'This one moment was the deciding thing or the most fun we had', because everywhere we went was so amazing and the things we got to do and see were just incredible. Just the experience of being there and having the opportunity to run it was pretty huge in itself."

Finally, do you have any regrets or anything you wish you'd done differently?Cord: "You know what? That's the coolest thing about doing The Amazing Race with my brother. I can seriously say that we came home and there is not a single thing I would do differently if I could do it all over again."

After running most of The Amazing Race 16 as the favorites, Cowboys and brothers Jet and Cord McCoy found themselves in tough on the final leg of The Amazing Race against the brother team of Dan and Jordan Pious. Despite being heavily favored to win The Amazing Race, Jet and Cord got a slow start with Brent and Caite when the Amazing Race touched down in San Francisco.

Although Cowboys Jet and Cord gained Amazing Race ground on Dan and Jordan when they paid a visit to ILM (Industrial Light and Magic), the home of the Star Wars franchise, for a video game challenge, Jet and Cord were in their own amazing race to hit the streets and get a cab to the finish line. Despite a strong final leg, Jet and Cord hit The Amazing Race mat in second place behind winners Dan and Jordan.

The next day after the Amazing Race 16 came to an end, we tracked down Jet and Cord to find out how the Cowboys felt about running the last leg, Dan and Jordan, and the explosive comments of eliminated Amazing Race contestant Brandy Snow who was U-turned instead of Jet and Cord.

THE DEADBOLT: So, how much did the hats slow you guys down?

CORD MCCOY: [laughs] Not that much. I've worn it every day since I was six years old.

THE DEADBOLT: Now that it's over, how do you feel about how Dan and Jordan approached the final leg?

[The Amazing Race] CORD: I don't know, it's crazy. I think Jet and I just tried to stick with what we did. I mean, we did what we thought was right and ran our race the best we could. It's like Jet says, we can look back on it and be happy about it, I guess.

THE DEADBOLT: Well, how much of a lead did they have getting out of the plane?

JET MCCOY: We didn't see them. We don't know.

CORD: I think, by the way it looked, it was pretty much the way you saw it. When they got to the Coit Tower, you could tell he was three-fourths of the way up there. I mean, he was like fifteen minutes ahead of us.

THE DEADBOLT: Well, Cord, I have to say that when you were at ILM, I thought you were going to tell Jet to stop, turn around, and start swinging.

JET: [laughs] I don't think he would have had to tell me.

CORD: Yeah, I wasn't too worried about him. I was hoping Jet could hold his own against him.

THE DEADBOLT: So what do you guys make of how Brandy acted at the finish line?

CORD: Holy moly! That there was good watching.

[The Amazing Race] JET: I guess her true colors kind of came through.

CORD: That was worth the price of admission there.

THE DEADBOLT: Well, last week Michael told me that you were upfront about possibly using a U-Turn on them. Do you view it as that's just part of the game?

CORD: Well, yeah. It's just the difference in people, because with Mike and Louis, we told them flat-out that if we got there, they'd be the team we'd U-turn. And they told us the same thing. I mean, we just took it in stride. Between the four of us, nobody took it personal. I think that was the thing about the race, like with Carol and Brandy and some of that stuff, I think they really kind of took it personal.

THE DEADBOLT: So I guess when you get bucked off a horse you don't take it personal?

JET: [laughs] No.

CORD: We get back on.

THE DEADBOLT: Why do you think Brent and Caite made it so far?

[The Amazing Race] CORD: One thing about it, and you can say whatever you want to, but Caite was pretty much up for any challenge and was excited to do it. Jet and I have been to the finish line before and they said we had to go back and do something else, and we both did it. There are a lot of times on the race where you feel like you're dead last, you can not have another chance, and the next thing you know you see another team and you're passing them. I think everybody on the race had that low feeling that this is it.

THE DEADBOLT: Is there anything that you wish got aired that we didn't see from you guys?

CORD: No, they edited it pretty well. They did a really good job of telling the story and keeping up with who does what and all of that. That's the cool thing about this show, there's really not a lot that happens that you don't see that makes a big difference in the race. I mean, it was pretty much just the way you saw it.

JET: It's a one hour show, though, and I think and we had way more than one hour of fun on each leg of the race.

THE DEADBOLT: What are you guys most proud of from your time on the race?

CORD: Man, you know what? In 2004, I crushed my skull. Up until that point, I grew up every week with my brother Jet and after that injury Jet had gotten married and we kind of went our separate ways. That's the reason why we did the race. We wanted to travel with each other and hang out, just me and Jet, and we got that back. I think it was mission accomplished, in my point of view, after the race.

[The Amazing Race] JET: I think it was a great experience. I mean, if you just narrowed it down to saying that I traveled all away around the earth in thirty days, that's huge in itself. Then you add all of the stuff that we did to it, the wineries, the bungee jumping, everything that we did. Seeing the Seychelles islands, I know there's not many people who have been there.

CORD: Or even heard of them.

JET: Just the whole experience, you couldn't narrow it down to one thing. The experience was just unreal.

THE DEADBOLT: So now that you've had your eight seconds on reality television, what's next for you guys?

CORD: Actually, I'm already scheduling a fundraiser. My dad's had cancer so we're doing a Relay for Life fundraiser in our hometown and I have the Cord McCoy Invitational Professional Bull Riding. It's called "Oh My Gravy It's a Pink Tie Affair" so we can have a dance and banquet fundraiser and raise money for Relay for Life in Ada, Oklahoma.

Jet and I have joined up with the Relay For Life to raise money for the American Cancer Society! I know yall are some of the best fans in the world, thought you might wanna help out. Go to http://www.cordpbr.com Cord McCoy Invitational, May 29-30, Ada, Okla.

Reality TV World: Exactly what happened at Lucasfilm with your money and personal stuff? Last night's show really never showed you guys after that so it was a little unclear.

Caite Upton: What happened was Brent and I got there and I had my money bag and in the lobby there are two separate changing rooms -- one for me and one for Jet -- and when Jet came out to bring out his clothes that he had changed out of, he laid it over my money bag knowing that's my money bag. He was playing the game, he knew it was my money bag, he knew I would probably miss it -- so I ran out without it.

Reality TV World: So you know it was deliberate? Did he acknowledge it, or are you [assuming that]?

Caite Upton: I know it was deliberate. It was the only thing sitting on the entire couch. He knew that wasn't his and he knew it was mine -- or somebody's -- and he deliberately put the clothes over the top of it. He could have laid his clothes somewhere else on the couch. But no, he put it over the top of the money bag. So, yeah.

After the "Amazing Race" Jet has gone back to training reining horses. And Cord is back on the bull, traveling with the PBR.Enlarge this picture

Cord has a ranch in Tupelo, near Ada.Enlarge this picture

Cord's fiancée Sara says she and Jet's wife Ashley loved watching the rodeo around the world.By Tara Vreeland, The News On 6

TUPELO, OK -- Oklahoma is known for its severe weather, its song, and its football teams. But it's most recently been recognized as the home of two of the more famous cowboys on the planet, Jet and Cord McCoy.

How has life changed since the two competed on "The Amazing Race?'

News on 6 Anchor Tara Vreeland met up with the Cowboys at Cord's ranch in Tupelo.

It sounded like a lot of fun. That's what brother's Cord and Jet McCoy said lead them to pull on their boots and pack their bags for a race around the world.

The reality show relay took the cowboys out of their southern Oklahoma comfort zone.

But neither the Professional Bull Rider nor the former saddle bronc rider shy away from a good challenge.

Reality television came knocking at the perfect time. The PBR World Finals had just wrapped up in Vegas and the horse show season had slowed.

"If you moved it two weeks in either direction we wouldn't have been able to go on the race," Cord said. "We'd missed Christmas. I know. You can't miss Christmas. I like Christmas."

In the end, they took second place, missing out on a million dollar prize by mere minutes.

But now that the show is over, the brothers from Ada say nothing is as sweet as home sweet Oklahoma.

To me, the oddest thing about the Cowboy-Haters is that they base their hate on one incident (very similar to what the Globetrotter-Haters do). Yet these same people praise teams like Carol and Brandy and Dan and Jordan for open hate and disdain toward other teams AND TPTB, which gave them their fame (and money) in the first place. It's warped thinking IMO, but everyone is entitled to an opinion.That's just my

Edit: to stave off any arguments I'll even say that the name calling is not unproven. Even so the hate for them is mostly stemming from one word??

I dont consider myself a "Cowboy hater" (they are characters on a TV show, hardly worth the energy it takes to hate). During their season, I considered myself a "Cowboy fan". But then I met them. At TARCon, Cord was very nice. Jet; not so much. In my interactions with him, I found him to be rude, unpleasant and just plain....not nice. A far cry from the way he was edited.

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Even so the hate for them is mostly stemming from one word?? Prophet

It wasnt just "one word"! If Jet had called Jordan an "asshole" or damn near anything else, it wouldnt have bothered me in the least. They are both big boys and can fight their own battles. Jet called Jordan a "fag" on his birthday in front of his mother. There is simply no excuse for that. That action alone spoke volumes about Jet's character, much more so than any "golden edit" he may have received.

It seems to me that calling someone a "fag" is not something that you do when you are out in public at an event held by and for TAR fans, especially when you were IN the race. It is not something one does when the person's mother is present.

A word is just a word? No, it isn't. It was meant to be hurtful and demeaning, a word used as a homophobic slur. However in my opinion, the person who demeaned himself was the person who uttered the word not the intended target.

Just because someone can open their mouth to say something doesn't mean they shouldn't think about it before they actually do it. JMO.

It seems to me that calling someone a "fag" is not something that you do when you are out in public at an event held by and for TAR fans, especially when you were IN the race. It is not something one does when the person's mother is present.

A word is just a word? No, it isn't. It was meant to be hurtful and demeaning, a word used as a homophobic slur. However in my opinion, the person who demeaned himself was the person who uttered the word not the intended target.

Just because someone can open their mouth to say something doesn't mean they shouldn't think about it before they actually do it. JMO.

To me, all of Jordan's Twitter "slurs" toward the Cowboys aren't really any different.JMO

I haven't read them so I can't comment. I'm not making excuses though, it's one thing to put your thoughts on the web, another to disrupt a public event. Not good either way, but I don't have to read twitter but if I'm in a public place and hearing it, definitely not comfortable.

In the interest of comity, since many racers have joined RFF, we want them to feel welcome, I suggest this particular discussion end at this point.